Israeli elections: Walter Russell Mead apologizes to David Remnick

1/25/13 4:08 PM EST

Walter Russell Mead, the editor-at-large at The American Interest, has apologized to New Yorker editor David Remnick for a recent post on his blog that called Remnick's article about the Israeli elections "shameful."

"I want to apologize to David Remnick for a mean spirited jab that was unfair to him, to our readers and fell short of the standards of fairness, courtesy and accuracy we try to uphold on the site," Mead wrote today on his blog, VIa Meadia. "This was not a borderline case; it was wrong and in failing to establish a process that would prevent this kind of error, I have made a grievous mistake. It’s particularly galling that this mistake was at the expense of a man whose brilliant editorial leadership at the New Yorker has set the standard for American journalism for many years."

The initial post, apparently not written by Mead, had faulted nearly every brand-name U.S. media outlet for wrongly anticipating the outcome of this week's Israeli elections. "The most shameful piece of journalism was David Remnick’s 9,000-word feature in last week’s New Yorker, detailing the irrevocable popular rise of Israel’s radical right," the author wrote.

In an email to POLITICO, Remnick responded by expressing some confusion at Mead's post (it was unclear at the time that Mead had not written the post.)

"Walter Russell Mead seems very exercised, as if I had wanted the hard-liners I was writing about to win. Nothing could be farther from the truth," Remnick wrote, before going on to explain the reasons for the outcome of the election.

In his apology, Mead said his own blog was "in the process of transforming the site from a small blog into something a little bigger and more comprehensive, partly as the American Interest increases its presence online," though he took full responsibilty for the post.

"Thanks again to all our readers who, despite the occasional snafu and error of judgment, stick with us," Mead wrote. "And apologies once again to everybody, and especially to David Remnick, for putting an inappropriate post on the site."